Comments

"But what struck us, and reassured us, about the latest trove of classified documents released by WikiLeaks was the absence of any real skullduggery. After years of revelations about the Bush administrations abuses -- including the use of torture and kidnappings -- much of the Obama administrations diplomatic wheeling and dealing is appropriate and, at times, downright skillful."

If the US govt were smarter, they would use these leaks to prove that the US is actually a far more benign power than most people seem to think. And that there is no world government, no elders of Zion and no trilateral commission running the world. In fact, nobody seems to run the place. All in all, very reassuring.
Of course, it will be good if the CIA could upload the more juvenile cables from other countries to wikileaks, just to put things in perspective, but then, CIA probably has no such capability. Maybe they can pay some hacker to do the job?

The trouble with broad sweeping statements like "its (sic) time to clean house" is that more often than not the good gets swept away with the bad. It is not Julian Assange's right to decide on such issues. May he rot in hell.

As a "faceless little man" who has served his country for a quarter of a century, in two wars, I reject JMA's wish that I get "far worse" than the pasty faced Julian. When the first human rights activist is killed, when the first journalist is disappeared, when the first anti-trafficking crusader ends up face down in a back street, maybe Mister Assange will be happy.

The way "they" are dealing with Assange is yet another example of more of the same. My suggestion to US citizens is not to focus on the "messenger" but to read the disclosures and then deal ruthlessly with the faceless little men who have killed and caused mayhem in your name. There are people in the State Department and the CIA who need far worse than what some may be wishing on Assange. The US is a great country with good, genuine and warm hearted people, the country will get over this. In the meantime... its time to clean house.

Assange is slowly but surely being pushed into a corner. Asymmetrically if you will, he has an international arrest warrant out on himself, sexual harassment and maybe rape, and methinks that may be just the beginning. Couldn't happen to a better person. Yes; may he rot in some hell hole, the "thirder" world the better.

The more the merrier. There will be a lot hyperventilating for a few days, primarily by people who claim to think in terms of real "objective" factors in world affairs but actually have no confidence in their own propaganda.
The irony is, they are closer to the truth when they are spouting propaganda! The US is not the pre-eminent power in the world because its super smart diplomats write super smart cables. You could kick that whole delicately balanced house of cards and it would fly in the air and fall down looking much the same as it did before the kick.
The secret protects itself. If Chinese diplomacy is able to keep its cables secret, they are not there yet. When they get there, some Chinese hacker will leak their cables too.

These leaks will be damaging in what way? The way they will probably expose the State Department (like the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office before it) having lied/cheated/deceived/betrayed their way through the conduct of foreign affairs. First we had Perfidious Albion and now we wait to see the US version exposed. Can't wait.